This sermon was preached at Saint Matthias Church on Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2006 by seminarian Cathy Dempesy.

Years ago I was working in a home based therapy program for women and their children. As I arrived at a house one day the 4 year old daughter, Tina, proudly showed me a painting of the Last Supper they had just picked up at a garage sale. Tina asked me if I knew what the picture was, I asked her to tell me about it. She said---it’s Jesus having lunch with his friends! And of course she was exactly right---Jesus sharing a meal with his friends. To Tina this was the most ordinary of events---something Jesus did that she could relate to. Eating lunch with friends. She may not have had all of the theology down pat or all of the history in the right order. But she got the message—Jesus and his friends were together. They liked being together because they enjoyed each other—they loved each other. It was their community.

Last week I shared a meal with some friends—my three sisters our mother and several family friends—we sat at a big round table at a restaurant in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The place was packed of people doing the same thing—sharing good food and drink, great conversation, camaraderie laughter and love. We told stories, we reminisced. We missed those who weren’t there—our dad, our grandparents. It was a meal to remember. Not because of where we were or what we ate, but because of who we were with and how much we love each other. And it showed—several people at other tables told us how nice it was to see us all together—the Dempesy girls, together again! Just like us Dempesy girls, Jesus and his disciples had shared lots of meals together. But this one was special—not because of what was eaten or where they were. Or who they were. John doesn’t even identify it as a Passover meal—for John it was just another meal.  Just a meal. But it became special---.  because of what Jesus did. Not what he said, not what others did to him, but what he did. He washed the feet of his friends. Not because the disciples were dirty, not because there wasn’t anyone else who could do it. He did it because he loved them and through the simple humble act of foot washing Jesus showed them that love. He showed them what he meant when he said—love one another as I have loved you. Not how you want to be loved, not how you have loved others, but love one another as I have loved you. Jesus showed them this with a simple act on a regular day. Much like a mother will absent mindedly wipe smudge off the cheek of her child, or a spouse will dust some flint off of a loved one’s jacket, or a child reaches out an arm to steady an elderly parent’s gait, Jesus offers to clean off the grimy dusty feet of his followers. Because he loves them. Because he loves us.

Jesus asked us, that night to remember him through the simple acts of life—through the breaking of bread the drinking of wine, the exchange of the peace.  Some 50 or 60 years after that evening Paul reminds the people Corinth of Jesus’ request that night: when you take this bread and take this cup remember me. Remember God. Remember that we love you and want the best for you always. And forever. Just like I wish that for my sisters and they me. Just like Tina wished that for her Mom and her mom she. Just like you want that for your children, your parents, your friends. As often as you do this, Jesus says, I love you. God so loved us he gave us his son. his son so loved God and so loved us, he went to the cross for us. As often as we do this, as often as we break bread together, remember this.  Because in the simplest things in life--like eating lunch with our friends—we show each other our love.

Join me, friends, as we break bread, wash each other’s feet and watch with Christ ‘til morning---remembering the gift of eternal life and the hope this Holy Meal brings us to, week in and week out.

Amen.